Abstract

Binary collision induced light scattering by gaseous room temperature neon has been both experimentally and theoretically studied. Our experimental scattering cross sections have been calibrated on an absolute scale. The anisotropic
spectrum and the depolarization ratio have been measured over the 5–300 cm−1 frequency domain, whereas the isotropic spectrum has been recorded over the domain 125–300 cm−1. In comparison with any previous work in the topic, our measurements provide a substantial extension of the probed far wing. An exhaustive study of the light scattering process has been made from the theoretical/numerical viewpoint also. This has been made possible by quantum mechanically computing scattering intensities via a rigorous numerical treatment (previously developed by the authors) accounting both for free Ne pairs and for stable Ne2 diatoms, which has been coupled to a novel
ab initio
incremental polarizability
model based on Symmetry Adapted Perturbation Theory.